The Devil's Punchbowl at Arthurs pass is in the mountains of New Zealand's south island, where the southern alps divides the west and east coast. It receives over a meter of precipitation a year. There is a striking difference between the habitats on either side of this main divide, with mountain beech dominating the drier eastern slopes and a mixture of podocarp rainforest, red-flowering rātā and understories of shrubs, ferns and mosses on the west. Above the bushline, snow tussock and alpine meadows exist.